Malaysia Airlines aircraft’s accident deter Chinese travellers to visit the country

PUTRAJAYA – While the Malaysia Government announced today that it will officially publish death certificates for all victims of Malaysia Airlines aircraft MH370, which disappeared on March 8 while flying between Kuala Lumpur and Beiijing. As there is now little hope to know exactly what happened on board – as black boxes ceased to emit signals-, Malaysia is now facing a new disaster- this time for its economy: the disappearance of Chinese tourists.
 

According to data collected by the Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association – which manages a majority of the Chinese tourist arrivals in the country through its network of some 70 companies-, bookings’ cancellations from mainland China travellers since the accident have reached almost 30%, which will translate into a big loss in revenues for the country. Talking to the media following the release of the data last week, former Minister of Tourism and current Malaysia Tourism Chairwoman Dr Ng Yen Yen, indicated that 100,000 tourists from China visit Malaysia each month and each of them would spend RM2,800 ($865) on average. “Bookings cancellations already translated into a loss of some RM 100 million in just six weeks”, she indicated to reporters. Malaysian tour operators report to receive on average five groups per day from China now, compared to up to 20 groups before the accident. 
 

The MH 370 aircraft carried on board 153 Chinese travellers from a total of 227 passengers. Many families of the victims were infuriated over the way Malaysian authorities handled the MH 370 case and communicate information. 
 

It seems that a collective support movement in China now translates into a boycott of Malaysia. China’s anger towards Malaysia was even supported by a further incident on April 2, when a Chinese tourist on holiday in Malaysia Borneo state of Sabah was abducted by armed men. 
 

Dr Ng said in the press conference that the biggest impact of potential revenue loss from Chinese tourists involved those originating from major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Airlines have since started to reduce their frequencies to Kuala Lumpur. China Southern will go to one daily flight to KL instead of three daily while Xiamen Airlines has decided to postpone new flights.